The Other Prelude
The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.
Call For Contribution
This fun project, called The Other Prelude, is a creative reconstruction of the standard Prelude. By disregarding history and compatibility, we get a clean sheet.
Committee
This project has no committee whatsoever. Haskell community discussed the issues here.
Naming Conventions
- Function names should be easy for beginners to consume.
- Specifically, The Other Prelude naming convention is to use
- descriptive symbols for functions that are naturally infix (e.g.,
mplus
is replaced by(++)
) - whole English words and camelCase for functions (e.g.,
orElse
but notfmap
)
- descriptive symbols for functions that are naturally infix (e.g.,
The Hierarchy
Although, not Haskell 98, hierarchical modules will definitely be in Haskell'. We take it for granted.
TheOtherPrelude
- Minimalistic module.TheOtherPrelude.Extension
- Convenient definitions.
Open Issues
- Should Prelude functions use
Integer
instead ofInt
?
The Code
Currently, the code is in Wiki form. If people do agree that the collaborative decisions begot something pretty, we'll have a group of files in darcs.haskell.org some time.
The imaginery Prelude as it stands,
import Prelude () -- hide everything
-- the idea is to remove 'fmap'.
-- both map :: (a -> b) -> [a] -> [b] ('fmap' for the monad [])
-- and (.) :: (a -> b) -> (e -> a) -> (e -> b) ('fmap' for the (->) e monad)
-- are good names, and are intuitively prefix and infix respectively.
class Functor f where
-- 'fmap' is guilty of nothing but a bad name
map, (.) :: (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
-- implementing either is enough
map = (.)
(.) = map
-- the following has been shamelessly copied,
-- from the [[Functor hierarchy proposal]] wiki page.
class Functor f => Applicative f where
-- lifting a value
return :: a -> f a
-- should this be named 'ap'? is 'ap' a good name?
-- can you come up with a better name?
-- can it refactor the liftM* type gymnastics?
(<*>) :: f (a -> b) -> f a -> f b
-- this leaves little left for the actual Monad class
class (Applicative m) => Monad m where
-- the binding operation, gist of a monad
(>>=) :: m a -> (a -> m b) -> m b
-- throwing out the outer monad
join :: m (m a) -> m a
-- when the second is independent of the first
-- included in the class in case performance can be enhanced
(>>) :: m a -> m b -> m b
-- intuitive definitions
fa >> fb = (map (const id) fa) <*> fb -- is there a better definition?
x >>= f = join (map f x)
join x = x >>= id
-- we shamelessly copy from the ''MonadPlus reform proposal'' now.
-- should satisfy 'left zero': zero >>= f = zero
-- zero will be used when pattern matching against refutable patterns in
-- do-notation as well as to provide support for monad comprehensions.
class (Monad m) => MonadZero m where
zero :: m a
-- should satisfy 'monoid'
-- zero ++ b = b, b ++ zero = b, (a ++ b) ++ c = a ++ (b ++ c)
-- and 'left distribution'
-- (a ++ b) >>= f = (a >>= f) ++ (b >>= f)
class (MonadZero m) => MonadPlus m where
(++) :: m a -> m a -> m a
-- should satisfy 'monoid'
-- zero `orElse` b = b, b `orElse` zero = b
-- (a `orElse` b) `orElse` c = a `orElse` (b `orElse` c)
-- and 'left catch'
-- (return a) `orElse` b = a
class (MonadZero m) => MonadOr m where
orElse :: m a -> m a -> m a
How To Use
-- ''The Other Prelude'' is an alternative, not a replacement.
-- So we need to hide everything from the Prelude
import Prelude ()
-- This is just an example assuming there is nothing to hide
import TheOtherPrelude
-- Hopefully, this module will contain lift,...
-- Standard convention is to use M.lift (instead of liftM)
import qualified TheOtherPrelude.Monad.Kleisli as M
See also
- Mathematical prelude discussion - A numeric Prelude in good shape already. Will a merger be ever possible?
- Prelude extensions and Prelude function suggestions - Unlike The Other Prelude they enhance the Prelude.
- Functor hierarchy proposal - Making
Monad m
implyFunctor m
(adopted by The Other Prelude). - If-then-else - Making
if
a function. - MissingH - Functions "missing" from the Haskell Prelude/libraries.
- MonadPlus reform proposal - Clarifies ambiguities around MonadPlus laws (adopted by The Other Prelude)